Photographic print and film drier



June 11, 1968 D. GAUBATZ 3,387,386

PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINT AND FILM DRIER Filed Jan. 24, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet llm/ezz for Dow/440 644/8472 June 11, 1968 D. GAUBATZ 3,337,336

PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINT AND FILM DRIER Filed Jan. 24, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2[712/622 an m0 Gwen/z United States Patent 3,387,386 PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTAND FILM DRIER Donald Gaubatz, 22439 Pardee Court, Dearborn Heights,Mich. 48125 Filed Jan. 24, 1966, Ser. No. 522,483 3 Claims. (Cl. 34-145)ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A photographic print drier includes abox-like structure With spaced outer walls and a partition wall dividingthe structure into two compartments one for heating and the other fordrying by delivering a flow of warm air through a stack of photographicprints separated from each other by blotters to enable the simultaneousdrying of a relatively large number of prints.

This invention relates to improvements in photographic print driers ofthe type employed by commercial photographic studios.

It is an object of the invention to provide a photographic print drierof the foregoing type of compact, easy to use construction.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a photographicprint drier having a minimum number of operating elements readilyaccessible for maintenance and repair.

The foregoing, and other objects, will become apparent from thefollowing specification taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a photographic print drier embodyingthe present invention with the front end wall of the drier open and astack of prints loaded into the drier;

FIGURE 2 is a front view in perspective of the drier of FIGURE 1, withthe print stack and stack cover removed and the hook of the drier in itsopen position;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of the drier with the near side wallof the structure removed; and

FIGURE 4 is a detail cross sectional view of the plenum chamber takenapproximately on line 4-4 of FIGURE 3.

The print drier disclosed in the drawings is constructed preferably fromsheet metal material and includes a bottom 10, upstanding parallel sidewalls 12 and 14 and a fixed rear wall 16. A front wall 18 is hingedalong its lower edge to the front edge of bottom as by a piano hinge 20.At a location spaced forwardly from rear wall 16, an intermediate wall22 extends transversely between side walls 12 and 14. A top wall 24covers the space between rear wall 16 and intermediate wall 22 andextends transversely between the two side walls to provide an enclosedplenum chamber 26 at the rearward portion of the drier. A blower 28 ofconventional construction is mounted on top of top wall 24 with theblower outlet projecting downwardly through the wall to blow air intoplenum chamber 26.

As best seen in FIGURE 2, an opening 30 is cut in intermediate wall 22immediately adjacent side wall 12 to extend upwardly a relatively shortdistance from bottom 10. Air forced into plenum chamber 26 by operationof blower 28 is discharged from the plenum chamber through opening 30into the print drying chamber represented by the space between sidewalls 12 and 14 forwardly of intermediate wall 22.

As best seen in FIGURES 3 and 4, an electrical heating element 32 ofconventional construction is mounted within plenum chamber 26 as bymeans of a bracket 34 mounted on the inner side of rear wall 16. Accessto heating element 32 is provided by an opening 36 in rear wall 16normally closed as by a cover plate 38 removably secured to rear wall 16as by screws 40.

The control switches for the motor of? blower 28 and heater 32 aremounted upon the front panel 42 of a hood designated generally 44, theheater control switch being indicated at 46 and the motor control switchat 48. An indicator light 50 is also mounted on front panel 42 toindicate when the heating element is on. Preferably, the control systemof the device also includes an automatic timer switch 52, such timerswitches being of well known commercially available construction. Theelectrical wiring connections between the various switches, lights andblower motor are completely conventional and well known to those skilledin the art. A suitable power cord, not shown, is employed to connect thevarious elements of the electrical circuit to a conventional electricpower source, such as a wall outlet.

Hood 44 is hinged along its rear edge to the upper edge of rear wall 16as by a piano hinge 54. As best seen in FIGURE 2, when the hood is inits open position access is provided to the electrical switchconnections and to blower 28 for purposes of maintenance or repair.

As best seen in FIGURE 2, the forward ends of side walls 12 and 14 arereversely bent to form inwardly projecting channel sections or posts 56.Angle members 58 are fixedly secured to the front side of intermediatewall 22, the projecting webs of angle members 58 and the innermost sidesurfaces of posts 56 being in coplanar alignment with each other. Thepurpose of members 56 and 58 is to provide an alignment guide for therectangular blotters 60 (FIGURES 1 and 3) which are employed to separatelayers of prints from each other within the print stack when the drieris in operation. The width of the rectangular blotters 60 is selected sothat they fit between the projecting webs of angle members 58 and theinner side surfaces of channel sections 56 so that the side edges of theblotters are spaced inwardly from the inner sides of the side walls 12.The length of the blotter element 60 is such that a reasonably snug fitis obtained between intermediate wall 22 and the inner side of frontwall 18 when wall 18 is in its elevated position.

The drier is loaded by first laying a blotter element upon bottom 10with the element positioned between the projecting webs of angle members58 and channel sectoins 56. It is more convenient to load the drier withfront wall 18 in the lowered position shown in FIGURES 1 and 2. Afterthe first blotter is in position, a print or prints to be dried is laidupon the top of the blotter and a second blotter element is placed overthe prints after they are in position. This process is repeated until astack consisting of alternate layers of prints and blotters, such asthat shown in FIGURE 1, has been loaded into the drier.

After the stack has been completed, a removable cover in the form of afairly heavy fiat plate 62 is placed in position on top of the stack.Cover 62 is dimensioned to completely fill the space between side walls12 and 14 and intermediate wall 22 and front cover 18 when the frontwall is in its elevated position. Effectively, cover member 62 defines atop of the drying chamber.

Blotter elements 60 preferably take the form of a pair of outer layersseparated by a corrugated intermediate layer, the corrugation permittingthe flow of air transversely through the blotter element. Moisture fromthe prints is absorbed by the absorbant outer layers of the blotterelement, and as the moisture soaks through the outer layers, the ilow ofair through the corrugations evapo ates the moisture.

Heated air is passed through the loaded stack of prints by operation ofblower 28 and heater 32. Blower 28 blows air inot plenum chamber 26where the air is heated by operation of heater 32. The heated air passesfrom plenum chamber 26 through opening 30 into the space between sidewall 12 and the adjacent edge of the stack of prints. When cover plate62 is in position, the top of this space is closed, and with front wall18 in its elevated position, air passes from the space between side wall12 and the stack into the stack to flow through the corrugations of theblotting elements to the space between the opposite side of the stackand side wall 14. Louvers 64 formed in side wall 14 permit themoisture-laden air to fiow from the drier. A magnetic catch 66 isemployed to hold front wall 18 in its upper position as best seen inFIGURE 3, front panel 42 of hood 44 projects forwardly beyondintermediate wall 22 so that air is available to the blower intakethrough the opening in the hood forward of intermediate wall 22.

While one embodiment of the invention has been described in detail, itwill be apparent to those skilled in the art that this specificembodiment may be modified. Therefore, the foregoing description is tobe considered exemplary rather than limiting and the true scope of theinvention is that defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A photographic print drier or the like comprising a box-likestructure having a pair of spaced side walls, a fixed rear end wall anda hinged front end Wall, extending between said side walls, anintermediate wall extending between said side walls in spaced adjacentrelationship to said rear wall, a top wall extending between said rearwall and said intermediate wall from side wall to side wall to define aplenum chamber, at the rear of said box-like structure, the portion ofsaid structure in front of said intermediate wall defining a dryingchamber adapted to receive a stack of prints to be dried with the stackspaced inwardly from the side walls, means defining an opening in saidintermediate wall placing said plenum chamber in communication with saiddrying chamber at a location adjacent the bottom portion of one of saidside walls, heating means in said plenum chamber, blower means mountedon said top wall for blowing air into said plenum chamber to forceheated air from said plenum chamber through said opening, removablecover means adapted to rest upon the top of a stack of prints in saiddrying chamber to close the top of said chamber, outlet means at theother of said side walls permitting the egress of air from said dryingchamber and a hood hingedly mounted upon the upper edge of said rearwall and adapted to cover said blower means when said hood is in itsclosed position, said hood having a front panel projecting forwardly ofsaid intermediate wall when said hood is closed to define an air inletfor said blower means.

2. A photographic print drier or the like comprising a box-likestructure having a pair of spaced side walls, a fixed rear end wall anda hinged from end wall, extending between said side walls, anintermediate wall extending between said side walls in spaced adjacentrelationship to said rear wall, a top Wall extending between said rearwall and said intermediate wall from side wall to side wall to define aplenum chamber, at the rear of said boxlike structure, the portion ofsaid structure in front of said intermediate wall defining a dryingchamber adapted to receive a stack of prints to be dried with the stackspaced inwardly from the side walls, means defining an opening in saidintermediate wall placing said plenum chamber in communication with saiddrying chamber at a location adjacent the bottom portion of one of saidside walls, heating means in said plenum chamber, blower means mountedon said top wall for blowing air into said plenum chamber to forceheated air from said plenum chamber through said opening, removablecover means adapted to rest upon the top of a stack of prints in saiddrying chamber to close the top of said chamber, outlet means at theother of said side walls permitting the egress of air from said dryingchamber wherein said stack of prints includes a plurality of rectangularblotter elements of uniform dimensions, the spacing between said sidewalls being greater than the width of said blotter elements and thedistance between said front end wall being substantially equal to thelength of said blotter elements, guide means spaced inwardly from eachof said side walls for locating said blotter elements in said dryingchamber to define a side chamber extending along each side of the stack,said opening placing said plenum chamber in direct communication withone of said side chambers, and said removable cover means closing thetop of each of said side chambers.

3. A print drier as defined in claim 2 wherein said outlet meanscomprises louver means in the other of said side walls.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,458,190 1/ 1949 Newburger 342l12,487,722 11/1949 Newell 34233 2,525,159 10/1950 Wallace 34--942,671,280 3/1954 Grieve et al 34233 XR 2,994,134 8/1961 Adams 34-151 XRFREDERICK L. MATTESON, 1a., Primary Examiner.

H. B. RAMEY, Assistant Examiner.

